Archives For Hope Fellowship Church

C.S. Lewis talks of toys coming to life before Pixar’s movie Toy Story was ever even a thought. This selection from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity has helped to illustrate the scripture passage I am preaching on this Sunday, Philippians 2:5-11. It speaks of Christ who was in the form of God, did not view his status as something he had to hold on too but was willing to be subjected as a servant, made in the likeness of a human and humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross.

Read now how C.S. Lewis illustrates this gospel message through the illustration of a toy soldier coming to life.

5. The Obstinate Toy Soldiers

The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God. We do not know-anyway, I do not know-how things would have worked if the human race had never rebelled against God and joined the enemy. Perhaps every man would have been “in Christ,” would have shared the life of the Son of God, from the moment he was born. Perhaps the Bios or natural life would have been drawn up into the Zoe, the uncreated life, at once and as a matter of course. But that is guesswork. You and I are concerned with the way things work now.

And the present state of things is this. The two kinds of life are now not only different (they would always have been that) but actually opposed. The natural life in each of us is something self-centred, something that wants to be petted and admired, to take advantage of other lives, to exploit the whole universe. And especially it wants to be left to itself: to keep well away from anything better or stronger or higher than it, anything that might make it feel small. It is afraid of the light and air of the spiritual world, just as people who have been brought up to be dirty are afraid of a bath. And in a sense it is quite right It knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that.

Did you ever think, when you were a child, what fun it would be if your toys could come to life? Well suppose you could really have brought them to life. Imagine turning a tin soldier into a real little man. It would involve turning the tin into flesh. And suppose the tin soldier did not like it He is not interested in flesh; all he sees is that the tin is being spoilt He thinks you are killing him. He will do everything he can to prevent you. He will not be made into a man if he can help it.

What you would have done about that tin soldier I do not know. But what God did about us was this. The Second Person in God, the Son, became human Himself: was born into the world as an actual man-a real man of a particular height, with hair of a particular colour, speaking a particular language, weighing so many stone. The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby, and before that a foetus inside a Woman’s body. If you want to get the hang of it, think how you would like to become a slug or a crab.

The result of this was that you now had one man who really was what all men were intended to be: one man in whom the created life, derived from his Mother, allowed itself to be completely and perfectly turned into the begotten life. The natural human creature in Him was taken up fully into the divine Son. Thus in one instance humanity had, so to speak, arrived: had passed into the life of Christ. And because the whole difficulty for us is that the natural life has to be, in a sense, “killed,” He chose an earthly career which involved the killing of His human desires at every turn-poverty, misunderstanding from His own family, betrayal by one of His intimate friends, being jeered at and manhandled by the Police, and execution by torture. And then, after being thus killed-killed every day in a sense-the human creature in Him, because it was united to the divine Son, came to life again. The Man in Christ rose again: not only the God. That is the whole point For the first time we saw a real man. One tin soldier-real tin, just like the rest-had come fully and splendidly alive.

And here, of course, we come to the point where my illustration about the tin soldier breaks down. In the case of real toy soldiers or statues, if one came to life, it would obviously make no difference to the rest. They are all separate. But human beings are not. They look separate because you see them walking about separately. But then, we are so made that we can see only the present moment. If we could see the past, then of course it would look different. For there was a time when every man was part of his mother, and (earlier still) part of his father as well: and when they were part of his grandparents. If you could see humanity spread out in time, as God sees it, it would not look like a lot of separate things dotted about. It would look like one single growing thing- rather like a very complicated tree. Every individual would appear connected with every other. And not only that. Individuals are not really separate from God any more than from one another. Every man, woman, and child all over the world is feeling and breathing at this moment only because God, so to speak, is “keeping him going.”

Consequently, when Christ becomes man it is not really as if you could become one particular tin soldier. It is as if something which is always affecting the whole human mass begins, at one point, to affect that whole human mass in a new way. From that point the effect spreads through all mankind. It makes a difference to people who lived before Christ as well as to people who lived after Him. It makes a difference to people who have never heard of Him. It is like dropping into a glass of water one drop of something which gives a new taste or a new colour to the whole lot. But, of course, none of these illustrations really works perfectly. In the long run God is no one but Himself and what He does is like nothing else. You could hardly expect it to be.

What, then, is the difference which He has made to the whole human mass? It is just this; that the business of becoming a son of God, of being turned from a created thing into a begotten thing, of passing over from the temporary biological life into timeless “spiritual” life, has been done for us. Humanity is already “saved” in principle. We individuals have to appropriate that salvation. But the really tough work-the bit we could not have done for ourselves-has been done for us. We have not got to try to climb up into spiritual life by our own efforts; it has already come down into the human race. If we will only lay ourselves open to the one Man in whom it was fully present, and who, in spite of being God, is also a real man, He will do it in us and for us. Remember what I said about “good infection.” One of our own race has this new life: if we get close to Him we shall catch it from Him.

Of course, you can express this in all sorts of different ways. You can say that Christ died for our sins. You may say that the Father has forgiven us because Christ has done for us what we ought to have done. You may say that we are washed in the blood of the Lamb. You may say that Christ has defeated death. They are all true. If any of them do not appeal to you, leave it alone and get on with the formula that does. And, whatever you do, do not start quarrelling with other people because they use a different formula from yours.

Like this:

This past weekend, Robin Mark led worship for us and I had the opportunity to preach to a full house at Mascenic High School. I was so blessed to be a part of such a fantastic weekend with great people who serve an amazing God. Here are a few of my thoughts about this past weekend along with a big thank-you to all of you who helped out.

PROVE IT! (Phil. 1:27-30)

The one thing I didn’t realize about my sermon this past Sunday was that the challenge had already been answered by so many of you. I challenged everyone there at the service on Sunday to prove their faith in Jesus by their works (James 2:18). We closed out Philippians Chapter 1 by focusing on verse 27, where the Bible says, “Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.” That means to be a good citizen because our “citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). So since we serve Christ first, we should seek to live in a way that is consistent with the gospel message. When a body of believers seeks to do this, it brings unity in the gospel because everyone stands firm “in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27).

What I realized after preaching this message and evaluating the concert, was that so many of you lived out your faith that very weekend. As a church, you jumped in and did not just sit back. You did not seek to do “good works” out of some legalistic requirement, but rather you served up your talents and time as an offering to the Lord (2 Tim. 1:6). So thank you all for ministering in a way that was “worthy of the gospel of Christ”.

A Big Thank-You:

Robin Mark

I am grateful to Robin for coming to Hope Fellowship Church with a servant’s heart. In his words, he was no” diva.” He was simply a man with a song to sing to his Lord. I know Robin was a huge encouragement to me as a young elder at our church. I was edified by his teaching and the advice he gave me throughout the weekend. He taught us “Why We Worship” through his words, songs, and actions.

Volunteers

Our volunteers served with such willingness I can’t even begin to describe it. So many of you showed up and pitched in wherever was needed. Wherever and whenever there was something to be done, there was a hand to do so. Those of you who helped with design, set-up, clean-up, food prep, ushers, sound board, slides, and so many others… thank-you!

Worship Team

You represented Christ in both your preparation and performance. Not that the concert was a “performance”, per se, but you used your talents to share your love for Christ’s gospel and His church. It was evident to all who attended, saved and unsaved, that you love Jesus and you want others to know about Him. You sought to remove any distractions from the gospel message on Saturday and Sunday by preparing and practicing in order to do your best for God’s glory. You have not wasted the talents God has given you but have maximized them for your Master’s use. Cale and Mike– thank-you for your immense planning and your (often unseen) efforts both behind and on stage to make this concert excellent.

Planning

Chad and Doug and so many others logged a tremendous amount of time behind the scenes. Chad had a plan for every detail, and Doug was determined to make it happen. And when we didn’t have a solution to a problem (like the air conditioning), God did. So thank you to all who helped out in the planning and organizing phases of this event. You contributed many hours of leg-work to get things done in order for this concert to happen.

The events of the weekend are over, but God still has much for us to do for His glory, so His work goes on. Continue to pray for our church and the spread of the gospel in the Monadnock region.
in and through Christ,Jordan Moody

Like this:

I am eager to preach this Sunday, Father’s Day, at Hope Fellowship Church as a new Teaching Elder/Pastor. God has blessed greatly over the past few years and I am excited to finally reach the point of preaching to a congregation that we will call our home church and our church family. God truly is good. He has blessed Jamie and me far more than we dreamed at this point in our life.

The theme of God’s goodness will be the focus of Sunday’s message. As we embark on this new chapter, it is important for us as a church family to pause and reflect on God’s goodness. This reflection upon God’s goodness ought to drive us to extol his name. This Sunday, I hope you will come ready praise God’s “wondrous works in the children of man” (v. 8)! Extol Him!

Psalm 107:1-2

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble

Psalm 107:32

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

The word EXTOL comes from a primitive root meaning:

“to be high or exalted, rise”

It can also carry the meaning to “become proud” or to “boldly proclaim”

This is what we as redeemed creatures ought to do. This is our natural response to God’s goodness in our lives. We ought to extol His good name.